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South Carolina’s Best Biking Trails

From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, South Carolina’s landscape is hard to not love. No matter where you are in the Palmetto State, one of the best ways to take in the state’s natural beauty is to bike through it. Here are five of the best biking trails and paths that you can pedal through to soak in the beauty of Carolina and break a sweat while doing it!

Swamp Rabbit Trail

This 22-mile trail, located in Greenville was opened in 2009 and has since been a favorite among visitors and locals alike. Winding along the Reedy River, this trail offers paved terrain for a leisurely ride or you can step it up and ride through Downtown Greenville. For both types of riders, there are plenty of incredible food options and places to rest after a hard ride, including the Swamp Rabbit Cafe.

Hilton Head Island Pathways
Throughout Hilton Head exists 60 miles of pathways for cyclists to enjoy. Having been awarded gold status as a bicycle-friendly community, Hilton Head has made it easy to get just about anywhere on the island using your bike. The Pathways allow you to take in the 12 miles of Atlantic coastline while burning some calories!

North Augusta Greeneway

Along South Carolina’s border, the Savannah River offers breathtaking sights for all to see. The North Augusta Greeneway allows bikers and pedestrians to travel over seven miles to admire the beauty that North Augusta and the Savannah have to offer. From wooded areas to riverside, bikers will see this town in a new light along one of the flatter and easier trails on this list.

Bike the Neck

Running along Highway 17, the Waccamaw Neck Bikeway covers everything from Pawleys Island to Murrells Inlet and more. Currently offering 18.6 miles of paved bike pathways, the Neck will eventually span down to Georgetown and all of Horry County, covering 27 miles.

Three Rivers Greenway

In Columbia, 8.5 miles of trails sit next to three beautiful rivers, the Broad, Congaree and Saluda Rivers. As bikers and nature lovers get to ride beside the river banks, they’ll come across outdoor amphitheaters, boardwalks and lighted paths. The Three Rivers Greenway will allow you to see plenty of wildlife while admiring the state capital from your bike!

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Santee Cooper’s Business Forecast for the Future

Featured Image: Post and Courier

It’s been a few weeks since state-owned Santee Cooper unveiled their “long-term plan” for the future. Since then, many Santee Cooper direct serve and electric cooperative customers have been wondering, what does it all really mean?

While the plan involves positive initiatives like a transition to more renewable, cleaner energy sources such as solar and natural gas, there are no specifics to how those goals will be achieved.

Breaking down the plan even further, Santee Cooper customers and South Carolina residents have room for concern as it appears there are many unanswered questions.

In order to pay down the debt, the state-owned utility started raising rates a few years back. Now, with the debt in the spotlight more than ever, part of Santee Cooper’s plan is to freeze rates for five years. While this is promising at first glance, many Santee Cooper customers are worried that it will only prolong the inevitable.

Other than closing its Winyah coal plant by 2027 and cutting jobs (another concern for local residents) to reduce costs, the utility doesn’t specify how it plans to pay its billions of dollars of debt and make the investments needed to reach their goals.

Which begs the question – will rates increase even more than anticipated after the five-year freeze?

Additionally, the state-owned agency finds itself in a lawsuit with its largest customer, the twenty electric cooperatives, who is suing the energy provider to stop them from raising their customer’s rates even more to pay for a generating plant that will never operate.

A question that hasn’t been answered – what will happen if the cooperatives win? Will the debt fall only onto the direct serve customers? Will a state-owned agency have to file for bankruptcy?

Many questions and very few complete answers seem to plague Santee Cooper at present.

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10 Hot-Button Questions For Presidential Candidates In The Upcoming Election

The 2020 Presidential Election is right around the corner and the candidates are making their way to all the big stops along the campaign trail. As a key state in the race, South Carolinians can expect to see many of the presidential hopefuls in the Palmetto State.

And, while there are obvious national issues that the candidates are likely to address, there are a few key topics South Carolina residents should be asking the candidates about. Below, are ten questions that matter to South Carolinians.

1. Do you support offshore drilling off of the coasts of states like South Carolina?

Offshore drilling is a hot topic amongst many South Carolinians. Earlier this year, U.S. Representative Joe Cunningham caused a stir after he blew an air horn during a House subcommittee hearing to call attention to how loud and disturbing seismic blast-testing is to marine life.

2. Do you believe the private sector is best suited to meet our country’s energy needs?

A major topic of conversation over the past year was and continues to be the future of Santee Cooper. The state-owned utility found itself billions of dollars in debt after abandoning its V.C. Summer project, creating the largest financial disaster in our state’s history. Now, the question is whether or not to sell to a private utility. In the case that it’s not sold the debt would fall onto the millions of Santee Cooper direct serve and electric cooperative customers living in South Carolina.

3. What are your thoughts on teachers’ pay in South Carolina?

Teachers in South Carolina are fed up with the current education system and it’s showing. With experiencing a statewide shortage, South Carolina ranks in the top 10 worst states for teachers. In May, many teachers protested and demanded higher wages and many other changes to their current working conditions.

4. What are your views on the legalization of marijuana?

With the legalization of marijuana happening in many states across the country, whether medicinal or recreational, the topic made it to the top of the list in the 2018-2019 South Carolina legislative session. However, it wasn’t passed through which means it will most likely be brought back up in the next legislative session and South Carolinians are paying attention.

5. What is your plan for affordable housing?

The cost of living in the Lowcountry and surrounding areas continues to rise significantly as people from around the country pour into our state. Affordable housing in South Carolina is a major issue and one that many residents are worried about.

6. Do you believe the minimum wage should be increased?

Many feel that while the cost of living in our state is increasing, pay is not. During the previous legislative session, a bill was introduced to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 per hour in the state of South Carolina. Many South Carolinians are hoping to see an increase in pay to balance out the higher cost of living.

7. What are your views on the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar?

As climate change becomes an ever alarming issue not only in the United States but around the globe, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are becoming more essential to our future. Incentives such as the solar investment tax credit (ITC) allow more people to afford the high costs of installing solar panels onto their home.

8. As president, how would you help to relieve the high costs of healthcare?

Healthcare continues to not only be a hot-button issue but is also a detrimental one for so many South Carolina citizens. In 2013 alone, 56 million Americans struggled to pay healthcare-related costs, that’s one out of five adults.

9. Student debt burdens millions in the United States and South Carolina is not immune, how do you plan on helping to relieve this pressure from young people?

Student debt has topped $1.5 trillion in the United States and the amount continues to rise. This debt burdens and weighs down young people looking to start their careers and adult lives. The rising student debt is an issue many South Carolinians worry about every day.

10. America’s infrastructure is crumbling. How would you fund expand funding to fix our roads and bridges across the country and in South Carolina?

Our country’s infrastructure is in major need of repair. As roads and bridges crumble, our daily commutes and school bus routes become more dangerous. While funding infrastructure is expensive it is essential to the well-being of our state and its residents.

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Darlington Raceway, “The Track Too Tough to Tame”

Featured Image: Play Florence

In the PeeDee of our beautiful state stands a classic, action-packed icon. The Darlington Raceway has been one of NASCAR’s prized tracks since 1950. With nicknames like “The Lady in Black” and “The Track Too Tough to Tame,” how could you not want to learn more about this Palmetto State treasure?

In 1948, Harold Brasington, a retired racer, was inspired by the Indianapolis 500 to make a track back home in Darlington, South Carolina. He bought 70 acres of land from a local farmer and started constructing the raceway. He designed an egg-shaped track to stay true to his deal with the farmer not disturb the land’s minnow pond, giving the track a sharper turn on the west side of the track.

The first race held in 1950 occurred on Labor Day, starting a tradition of Labor Day races at Darlington up until 2003 when the race was moved to Mother’s Day weekend. However, in 2015, the tradition carried on, moving the Southern 500 back to its classic Labor Day weekend date.

As for the nicknames, “The Lady in Black” was given for the fresh asphalt sealant laid on the track the night before race days, giving a dark black appearance in the early days of Darlington Raceway. “The Track Too Tough to Tame” comes from the number of cars that hit the wall several laps into the race. Many NASCAR drivers have attested to this name, saying that when racing at Darlington, you’re racing the track, not the competition. Those that do hit the wall earn the “Darlington Stripe”, a term coined after the stripe of missing paint on the side of the car.

The Darlington Raceway is still going strong with events throughout the year. Take a look at their calendar or stop by the museum to get a taste of this South Carolina tradition.

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Santee Cooper Announces Its New Plan, Leaving Many To Wonder What It Actually Means For Their Rates

Featured Image: Energy Manager Today

After making a surprise announcement that they would be unveiling elements of their reform plan to the public, state-owned Santee Cooper revealed the details this past Monday.

The plan, centered around the utilities’ move from coal to solar power and gas-fired plants, also lays out a business forecast for the debt-ridden utility. In July, Santee Cooper brought on its highly-paid CEO, Mark Bonsall, who led the transition from coal to solar at an Arizona utility company before heading to South Carolina. And news last month previously stated Santee Cooper would be phasing out coal generation and shutting half of its coal plants down. Leaving open the question – what will happen to all the employees that work at these plants?

According to the plan, the percentage of energy generated by coal will decrease to around 30 percent from the current level of 52 percent by 2033. To accomplish this, Santee Cooper will phase out its Winyah Generating Station, add utility-scale solar power while also buying smaller natural gas-fired turbines, all of which will take considerable time and resources to accomplish.

The initial plan involved a cost-sharing agreement to fund this shift with Georgia based, Southern Co., but after major backlash from lawmakers, the Governor’s office and South Carolina residents, this part of the plan was abandoned.

The board was intending to vote on the agreement with the investor-owned utility Monday, but the deal was shut down after state Department of Administration Director Marcia Adams, sent a letter on August 29 nixing the agreement and even threatening a restraining order to shut down the deal if necessary. Adams explained that entering into an agreement “with one more investor-owned utilities that include terms and arrangements that would potentially subvert the process set fort in the joint resolution.”

On September 2nd, S.C. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Hugh Leatherman, widely considered the most powerful legislator in the state, strongly opposed any such agreement and sent a letter requesting Santee Cooper not enter into any agreement that would limit the General Assembly’s options. Senator Leatherman ended the letter with, “in my opinion, such actions would be grounds for board removal if the governor so chooses.” Legislators, state officials and even the co-ops argued that the arrangement would have undermined and hindered the state’s process for assessing the bids for Santee Cooper.

While a plan roll-out from the state-owned utility was expected in the context of a reform deal to be submitted to the Department of Administration and evaluated alongside the management and sale bids, this announcement leaves many South Carolina residents and Santee Cooper customers wondering, what does it even mean?

The transition to renewable and cleaner energy is the future of the energy business without a doubt but Santee Cooper outlined no way to pay for this transition or how it will alleviate customers from rate increases to pay off the $4 billion of debt from the failed V.C. Summer project.

Bonsall pointed out that Santee Cooper plans to pay off $500 million of the debt by next year without explaining how they plan to do so, and still leaving billions unpaid, left to fall onto over 2 million South Carolinians who purchase power from the state-owned utility directly or from one of the 20 Electric Co-ops.

According to The State, Bonsall said Santee Cooper is still interested in partnering with other utilities in order to pay for these transitions even though legislators, government officials and the coops believe this will undermine the plan for the General Assembly to assess bids for the state-owned utility.

So, the question still remains, what will happen to Santee Cooper and its billions of dollars of debt?

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Hurricane Dorian South Carolina

The Latest On Hurricane Dorian And What It Means For South Carolina

Source: Bloomberg

Hurricane Dorian is out in the Atlantic and headed for the United States. What does this mean for South Carolina? Well, that’s yet to be determined.

Predictions are saying a landfall in Florida is most likely but experts are saying it’s still too early to say for sure. A landfall anywhere between Florida to the South Carolina coast is possible. And Dorian has proven to be unpredictable.

It was originally thought the hurricane would pass over Peurto Rico and lose strength as it crossed over the high mountains. However, the storm shifted and passed just north of the country meaning the hurricane is now able to gain strength as it enters warmer water.

In addition to the warmer water, the storm’s speed has slowed and is continuing to get more organized. By early Friday morning, Dorian is expected to be a strong category 2 hurricane.

As Dorian approaches the United States over the weekend, South Carolina should be watching the high-pressure system just off the coast that will keep Dorian from barrelling towards our state. If this system shifts north, a turn towards South Carolina is more possible.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Florida ahead of the storm as they prepare for impact. Predictions have Dorian making landfall between Monday night and early Tuesday morning as a major category 4 hurricane.

So while South Carolina is most likely in the clear, it’s still important to monitor as changes may occur. Stay up to date with the latest forecast by visiting the National Hurricane Center.

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birthplace of golf

South Carolina: The Birthplace Of American Golf

South Carolina golf courses are known around the world and loved by locals. From Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course to Myrtle Beach’s award-winning Dunes Golf & Beach Club, South Carolina’s golf courses are far above par (see what we did there).

While many know South Carolina is home to some of the best courses, many don’t know that South Carolina is home to the very first golf club in the country.

In 1786, the South Carolina Golf Club was founded in Charleston, and thus American golf was born.  The club, formed by a group of Scottish merchants, started shortly after the first golf clubs and balls arrived to the states. It is often said that the merchants played their first round of golf in Charleston at a public park known as Harleston Green. Announcements of the club were made in the North and South Carolina and Georgia Almanacs 1788 letting potential members know to meet at Harleston Green.

While it didn’t take off quite like it did in other countries at first, golf eventually became a sport loved by many. The South Carolina Golf Club evolved into what is now the Country Club of Charleston.

The course has rich tournament history including this years U.S. Women’s Open tournament in May and June, and is home to many well-known golfers and hall-of-famer Henry Picard. Picard, who won the Masters in 1938, started at the club as an Assistant Pro just 13 years before winning the Masters in 1925.

In addition to a famous golf course the club also features a beautiful clubhouse, aquatics and wellness facilities, a golf shop, and a tennis facility.

Check out the birthplace of American golf and learn more about the history of one of the greatest games ever played here.

 

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5 Ways to be More Environmentally Friendly

You’ve seen the tweets, read the news and have heard about the increasing concern over today’s environmental degradation. Our country’s malicious use of plastic, excessive waste of food, contribution to global warming and overall neglect of the environment are hot-button issues. No matter where you stand on these issues, there is one thing on which we can all agree – we need to treat our planet better!

Here are five easy ways we could all become more environmentally friendly:

Forget single-use plastic

Disposable water bottles, plastic shopping bags, excessive packaging – they all add up to the infamous “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” – the massive floating island of poorly discarded plastics between the ocean of California and Hawaii.

Try using a stainless steel or glass water bottle, as well as refillable coffee (or tea) cups. Bring a canvas bag or tote to the grocery store with you or save and reuse plastic shopping bags over and over again. Be sure to pass on the plastic straw when eating out and “save the sea turtles!” Try reusable stainless steel straws instead.

Cut down on energy use

We get it – it’s insanely hot in South Carolina during the dead of summer. But hey, with an ice-cold tea and a ceiling fan, you won’t have to regret turning up your thermostat just a bit during the warmer months. In the winter, lower your thermostat a few degrees as well and enjoy a warm coffee or tea from a reusable mug. Try unplugging your appliances or washing clothes and linens in cold water. According to the Worldwatch Institute, 85% of the energy used to machine-wash clothing goes to heating the water. If you are in the market for a new washer and dryer set, be sure to get an energy-efficient option. Better yet – use a drying rack to dry clothes instead of a machine.

We shouldn’t have to remind you to turn off the lights when you leave a room. Leave sticky notes next to the light switches if you have to!

Travel sustainably

South Carolina may not be at the forefront of the public transportation movement, but there certainly are options to save on gas and travel more sustainably. Check out your city’s public transit system, create a carpool group with coworkers, and bike or walk as often as possible. Become healthier and more sociable while helping to make the world healthier by reducing harmful emissions from vehicles on the roads. It’s a win, win!

Reduce water waste

The US Geological Survey reports that Americans use an average of 80-100 gallons of water at home per day. Americans take drinkable water for granted when in reality, only about 1% of all water on Earth is drinkable. To reduce water waste and ensure the rest of the world has access to safe drinking water, try cutting back on water usage at home. Take shorter showers (the average showerhead uses 2.5 gallons of water per minute) and install water-saving showerheads. Be sure to turn off the sink when brushing your teeth, only wash full loads of dishes and laundry, avoid unnecessary flushing of your toilet, and be sure to fix leaks in your home. Keep a sticky note in the bathroom as a good reminder

Make more sustainable food choices

The first step in eating more sustainably is simply not wasting as much food. Americans waste 40% of the food we grow. Try composting your scraps, don’t shy away from leftovers, and try not to buy or prepare more food than you will eat. Since agriculture accounts for 92% of global water consumption, decreased demand for food will eventually result in an increase of available water resources. And on that note – raising animals for meat requires a lot more water than growing grains and produce. Eating less meat means saving water. Try “Meatless Mondays” and taste-test delicious meatless protein options – beans, tofu, grains and nuts. We aren’t asking you to go vegan – just be more intentional about your food choices and what resources were used to produce them.

Join the millions of people worldwide who are concerned about our planet and determined to keep it healthy for the next generation. Who knows, you might even find that you like biking to work and eating tofu on Mondays.